Spatial Unit 2
by Gothic Guardian
Summary: How do you stop something when everything you shoot at it only makes it stronger? How can you catch something that can open up tears in the fabric of space time? Nick and Kate have to figure out how when they come across a Link who can do just that.R&R!
1. Chapter 1: The Link

Disclaimer: none of the characters in my story are mine :( (With the exception of the Link), I'm just borrowing them for a while. Don't worry, I'll return'em when I'm done ;)  
  
Spoiler: Slight one for "The Wall" Feedback: sure, constructive criticism is always welcome as long as you're nice about it (I don't mind it if you write to tell me how good it is either) ;) (A/N: Things didn't quite go as planned, Nick's actions at the end weren't supposed to happen until later on but I just went with the flow and got swept away with my story. You know how it is, you come up with a good storyline, a good plot, and a good villain, and the story practically writes itself. Anyways, so bare with me.) Spatial Unit 2  
  
The night was dark and Jerry was just finishing his shift at his newest job, night watchman at a power plant. To anyone looking, he would have made a humourous sight indeed. He had dirty blond hair--left long and holding a surprising resemblance to a surfer-dude's--and wore both a security guard's uniform, and a dumb, slightly vacant look to his eyes. Along with his idiocy, his eyes also held a glimmer of hope and joy. This was his second week and he still hadn't been fired. Best of all, he had not once seen anything too weird, yet. 'Finally' he thought 'a job I can do. No monsters, no Special Unit 2, and the job isn't too hard, either. This job is great!'  
  
Little did he know, his luck was about to change.  
  
As Jerry was walking to his car, he heard the fence surrounding the power plant rattle. He went to check out what the noise was and saw a man standing just inside the fence. The man's back was turned to him so all Jerry could see was the man's silhouette.  
  
"Hey!" Jerry yelled to the man "You're not supposed to be in there. Can't you read? The sign says: 'Danger, High Voltage! NO trespassing!'"  
  
The man appeared not to hear him. If he did, he didn't show it. He just stood where he was, staring at the power lines above him. He looked as if he were listening to them hum. He slowly raised his hands in the air, as if reaching for them. He did so as if he were in a trance.  
  
As this was going on, Jerry had taken out his flashlight and shone it on the man. Or at least that was his intention. Just as the beam was about to reach him, it suddenly went dead. It was as if the man absorbed the energy from the flashlight.  
  
As a bewildered Jerry looked on, the hum of power lines grew louder and sparks started shooting out of them.  
"Hey, mister, you should get out of there, it's not safe." Jerry warned the man.  
  
Again, the man just ignored him. The sparking started to get worse, but the man continued to reach out for the power lines. It was almost as if he was trying to grab the sparks. Soon the sparking got so bad that they started to get dangerously close to him, and still he didn't retract his arms. Even though the sparks were lighting up the sky, the man remained shrouded in darkness.  
  
This caused Jerry to get a very uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He's had enough experience with monsters and other creepy things, to know that something very bad was going on.  
  
The shadowed man was drawing the sparks towards himself, seemingly absorbing them.  
  
At this point, Jerry knew he had to do something. The problem was, he had no idea as to what. Before Jerry could think of what to do, the man turned around. He had one of the ugliest faces Jerry had ever seen.  
  
Just then, the shadowed man stretched one arm out towards him. Sparks flew from the man's fingers and hit Jerry, knocking him unconscious. In Jerry's eyes, all became black.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
Opening Credits:  
  
Starring:  
  
Michael Landes as: Detective Nicholas O'Malley Alexandra Lee as: Detective Kate Alice Benson, Danny Woodburn as: Carl the Gnome, Richard Gant as: Captain Richard Page and Jonathan Togo as: Jonathan  
  
Guest Starring: Mike Rad as: Jerry, and Pauley Perrette as: Alice  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
All was quiet in the underground headquarters of Special Unit 2. It had been two weeks since Nick and Kate had their run-in with the Revenants at Kate's high school reunion. For two weeks, the only link problem they've had to deal with was Carl's kleptomania.  
  
It was so quiet in fact, that Nick had started to fall asleep at his desk. He lay back in his yellow chair with his feet upon his desk and his head drooped until his chin rested on his chest. His well-muscled arms were crossed loosely over the lower part of his toned chest, and his eyelids slowly fell over his chocolate brown eyes. Just as he began a sweet dream, "O'Malley! Benson! In my office, Now!" came Page's booming voice, waking him from dreamland. The dark-haired detective grudgingly moved himself from his comfortable and relaxing position and followed his blond partner into what could only be compared to a dragon's lair.  
  
Seconds later, he was in Page's office, wondering what he had done this time.  
  
"We have just received a report about Link activity downtown. It's apparently draining energy from the power plant there. I want you two to go and check it out, while Jonathan does some research on what this thing is." Page informed them. Nick sighed inwardly, grateful about the fact that he wasn't about to be chewed out for something by the tall, powerful black man seated before him. He couldn't think of anyone --or thing for that matter-- in their right mind who would not be at least intimidated, if not terrified, by Captain Richard Page.  
  
"Yes, sir, we're on our way." Kate replied, also relieved that both she, and her partner, had evade his wrath.  
  
*******************************************************  
A short while later, at the power plant, the sky was being lit up with sparks. A tall dark figure could be seen silhouetted. It was facing the sparks, and the sparks were apparently being drawn into it.  
  
Then, suddenly, a black doorway appeared in the space in front of it. The shadowy figure stepped into the opening and disappeared.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Nick inquired in his usual harsh mannerism. Then a little calmer, he added, "Did I just see what I thought I saw?"  
  
"Though I do question your sanity at times, if this was one of your hallucinations, then I must have been dreaming too." Kate responded. She was almost as stupefied as her partner. "I think we had better check in with headquarters, see if Jonathan has found anything out yet about what were dealing with."  
  
"Good idea." was all the response she received.  
  
*****************************************************  
  
They spent the entire trip back in not-so-companionable silence.  
  
*****************************************************  
When they returned to headquarters, they told Jonathan and Captain Page what had happened. Jonathan reacted with his usual enthusiasm, nearly vibrating in place with excitement. His brown eyes twinkled with exhilaration. Page did not look happy, or amused.  
  
"The link you saw was a Gremlin" Jonathan told them in a rather exuberant tone. He was all too eager to share his wealth of knowledge on all things link related. After all, that's what he did as a "scientist", willingly relinquish his affluence of xenobiological information.  
  
"Wait a minute" Nick interrupted, "I thought Gremlins only took stuff apart. Since when do they suck energy out of power lines and then disappear?"  
  
"The Gremlin you're familiar with is the First Stage Gremlin, or FSG for short. The First Stage Gremlins are the ones seen in World War II dismantling planes while they were still in the air. They're the most well known, mostly because they have not yet become smart enough to avoid being noticed."  
  
"Get to the point, Jonathan" Page demanded.  
  
"Y-Yes, Sir. Okay, so there are three stages that gremlins go through:  
  
Stage One- They dismantle things. They then feed off of the energy derived from the objects they destroy.  
  
Stage Two- Their metabolism adapts to allow them to absorb the energy around them, in small quantities. If they consume too much energy at once they will overload. Therefore all you have to do to destroy them is shoot them. Once you give them too much energy, they'll explode. Much to O'Malley's delight.  
  
In the first two stages, the gremlins are pretty easy to stop. But if they are able to reach Stage Three, like the one you saw."  
  
"What, Jonathan?" Kate insisted.  
  
"Well, it's just that. It's just that Stage Three gremlins are able to open tears in the fabric of Space-Time. This makes them nearly impossible to catch if they get strong enough." Jonathan answered hesitantly.  
  
"You mean to tell me that this thing can travel through time?" Nick inquired. "How are we supposed to kill something if it can travel anywhere in time?"  
  
"It can't travel just anywhere in Space-Time." The xenobiologist corrected him. "Its range is limited. I doubt that this one can go so much as five seconds through time. And its range of distance can't be more than five meters. In all likelihood, the STG is probably still in the vicinity of where you last saw him." He emphasized the time and distance with eagre gesticulations  
  
"Okay, so how do we kill it?" Nick repeated.  
  
`"W-we don't know." Upon seeing the annoyed look on Captain Page's face, he quickly added an explanation. "As you know, the STG feeds on energy. That means that the more energy you shoot at it in an attempt to kill it, the stronger it'll get. So you'll have to catch it not kill it."  
  
"And how do we do that?" Kate questioned, brushing a strand of liquid- gold coloured hair from her eyes and behind her ear.  
  
"Well I could probably reconfigure your rifles to produce energy disrupter pulses, which should drain the STG of enough energy to make sure it can't go anywhere while you apprehend it. To do that we'll supply you with a Restraining Ring that you will snap around its neck and will disable its ability to absorb energy. Then all you'll have to do is cuff it and bring it in." was Jonathan's lengthy reply.  
  
"How long will these reconfigurations take, Jonathan?" Page asked him.  
  
"About an hour for the rifles, two for the Ring." Jonathan answered.  
  
"All right, get to it. Benson and O'Malley, I want you two to return to the power plant. See if you can find out where it's headed. Alice, go with them and make sure there are no witnesses." Page commanded.  
  
"Yes, Sir." All four said in unison.  
  
*******************************************************  
When Nick, Kate, and Alice returned to the power plant, Jerry was just regaining consciousness. It took him a couple of minutes to recollect what happened. As he stood up and looked for the weird guy with the sparks, he noticed Nick and Kate.  
  
He raised his arm and pointed to them. "You guys again." When he said that Nick rolled his eyes. He and Kate have heard him say that many times before. Alice just smiled her exceptionally charming smile and led Jerry  
  
*****  
While Alice was talking to Jerry, Nick and Kate went to survey the scene.  
  
"So what excuse do you think Alice will use on this one?" Kate asked him when they were out of earshot.  
  
"Do you really think she needs one?" Nick asked her.  
  
"You're probably right. I mean this is Jerry we're talking about. He's got the tension span of-Look! There's the Link." She said as she pointed to the STG.  
  
"Let's follow him. Maybe we can catch it before him makes another portal- thing." Nick commented.  
  
"Okay, how are we going to do that when we don't have any ammo to use on it?" Kate challenged.  
  
"Now I wouldn't say we don't have any ammo that'll work." Nick said in a nonchalant way as he loaded his spare riffle.  
  
"What are you using?" She wondered warily.  
  
"Tranks. The way I figure, they'll knock him out for long enough to get him back to headquarters. We can keep him sedated while were there. When Jonathan finishes with the Restraining Ring. We can snap it on the STG and throw him in the Hole." Nick explained. The Hole he was referring to was the inhumane jail cells located seven floors below the stationhouse, where they imprison the fiercest Links they catch. Long or short term, some of the Links had been down there for centuries.  
  
"Good idea. One question though, what if the tranks only make it stronger rather than knock it out?" Kate inquired.  
  
"Well, there's only one way to find out." He then proceeded to charge up his gun and shoot at the Link in question.  
  
"Nick, don't you think we should come up with a plan of attack first?" Kate asked him.  
  
"Now why would we do that? By the time we think of something, the STG will have already have gotten away." Nick responded even as he started running and shooting at the suspect.  
  
Seeing Nick, the Link ran away, Nick and Kate in hot pursuit. They chased it around to the front of the power plant. Just when it thought it escaped, it ran into Jerry and Alice. It turned around to run back the other way, only to come face to face with Nick and Kate. Realizing that it had nowhere to run, it raised its hands and drained the power plant dry. Nick and Kate shot at it, but to no avail. The tranks didn't even faze him. When it felt it had enough energy, it opened another spatial rift and went through it.  
  
"You're not getting away that easily." Nick commented. He then acted in a very Nick way. He followed it through the opening. Kate just rolled her eyes and went on in after them. 


	2. Chapter 2: The search

Spatial Unit 2 Chapter 2  
  
As soon as Nick and Kate went through the opening, the rift closed, leaving Alice and Jerry to just stare wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the place where the two detectives just vanished. Well, Jerry was staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed, Alice was just a little startled.  
  
"What was that?" Jerry asked, pointing to the now empty space.  
  
"What was what?" Alice replied.  
  
"That . Where did those two cops go?" Jerry stuttered,  
  
"What two cops?" Alice asked innocently.  
  
"The cops you came here with. From Special Unit 2." He insisted.  
  
"What's Special Unit 2?" She asked oh-so-sweetly.  
  
"You know what, never mind." Jerry said, giving up. "I know there is something going on. If you're not going to tell me then I'll have to find out on my own." And with that he stormed off.  
  
With him gone, Alice could worry about other things. Like how to tell Page that Nick and Kate are who-knows-where with the very Link that they were trying to catch. Aside from telling Page, she also worried about the two detectives's well being-who knew what the Link was doing to them at that very moment.  
  
***************************************************  
  
A short while later, when Alice returned to the stationhouse, she told Page what had happened. Page had on his face the look. Needless to say, Alice wished she were someone, anyone else at that moment. She wished she wasn't the person who told Page that his two best detectives just followed a Link into God-only-knows where.  
  
Seeing the expression on Page's face, Jonathan decided to speak up and help Alice out.  
  
"I think I have a way to track them, to find out where-or when-they are. But it'll take some time to set it up. And I'll need to set it up at the location they left from. And I'll need to get the supplies. And I'll need to." His voice trailed off into incoherent chatter as he excitedly thought about getting out of the stationhouse for a while.  
  
"Jonathan, shut up with your rambling, we have two detectives we have to worry about. So tell us how much time it will take to set up this tracking thing." Page demanded furiously.  
  
"W-well, my estimate would be about 3 hours in all." Jonathan stuttered in frightened response. (With an angry Page breathing down your neck, who wouldn't be intimidated?).  
  
"Three hours?! We can't wait three hours!" Alice exclaimed. "Who knows what they could be facing while we're setting up that thing." Even Page cringed from her unexpected outburst.  
  
"It's the only way. Either we take the three hours to set up the tracking device, or we just leave them in whatever untold hell dimension they are in now." Jonathan answered in his own defense.  
  
"'Untold hell dimension'? I thought that the STG could only travel through space and time, not through different dimensions." Alice interrupted, sounding just slightly panicked.  
  
"S-sorry, I was watching Buffy reruns last night. Anyway, as I was saying, the sooner we start setting up the tracking device, the sooner we're done setting it up, and the easier it will be to find them. The more time we spend debating this, the more time the STG has to absorb enough energy to go some where else." Jonathan concluded.  
  
"According to your best guess, Jonathan, how far through time and space could the STG have gone considering the amount of energy it drained from the power plant?" Page inquired calmly in attempts to ease Alice's worry.  
  
"Considering the fact that the STG sucked the entire plant dry it is my best guess that it could have traveled anywhere from 2 miles and 2 seconds, to 2,000,000,000 light-years and 2 centuries. The only way to know for sure is to set up the tracker. The link was just newly evolved when we found it, now it's stronger and it's smarter. Even if we did find it, I don't know if we could catch it. It may have gotten too strong for us to use the improved equipment on." Jonathan said morosely. That definitely did not appease Alice's obvious concern for her coworkers. In fact, it made her even more upset over their disappearance.  
  
"So you're saying that they could be anywhere, anywhen, with no way to stop it and no way to get back?!" Alice exclaimed, sounding even more alarmed.  
  
"First of all there is no such word as anywhen. Second of all I'm working on figuring out how to get the improved weapons to them and then get them back. And finally, would you stop panicking, it's getting rather annoying." Jonathan said relatively harshly. "Besides," he added more gently, "the scared little girl persona is not becoming on you."  
  
"Fine," Alice said, calming down, "set up that tracker thing. Just make sure you do whatever it takes to get them back." Upon seeing the questioning look on both men's faces, she added, "Nick owes me fifty bucks on a bet we made."  
  
Carl, who up until that point was busy trying to break into Nick's desk, piped up. "Yeah right. So how do we get them back? He owes me a hundred. I bet him that Alice had a crush on him, and I was, apparently, right."  
  
"I do not have a crush on him. And I'm starting to see why he enjoys beating you up so much. You're an annoying little prick." She then proceeded to strangling him.  
  
"Hey I resent that remark, my prick is not little. I'll have you know, I scare a lot of women with my trowser luggage." Carl defended while attempting to get her away from him.  
  
"Yeah, right. You know the real reason you scare off women is your smell and personality!" Alice remarked while still wringing his neck.  
  
"Okay, we have two detectives and a Link we have to get back. Can you two keep the personal animosity to a minimum?!" Page demanded, unamused by their bothersome banter.  
  
***************************************************  
  
Meanwhile back at the power plant, Jerry was back and trying to search for clues. Needless to say, he didn't do a very good job of it. After about three hours he gave up and left.  
  
Less than five minutes after he left, Jonathan, Page, Alice and about ten Special Unit 2 officers arrived at the plant and set up the tracker. It only took half an hour to set up because most of the preparations were taken care of at headquarters.  
  
Once that was completed, Jonathan activated the machine. It started up with a loud hum and the air around where the portal was began to shimmer. The machine started beeping as it attempted to analyze the data retrieved from scanning the energy signatures the portal made when it collapsed. When the energy signatures were thoroughly analyzed, the machine printed out the information. Of course, Jonathan was the only one who could read the print out anyways.  
  
"Bad news guys." Jonathan said solemnly. "According to these read- outs, Nick and Kate are one hundred and fifty years into the future and moving away from Earth at faster-than-light travel. My best guess is that they're on some sort of alien spaceship."  
  
Alice again started to panic. "So there's no hope of getting them back?!"  
  
"Now I didn't say that. All that means is that we have to get them back sooner." Jonathan said as he began tinkering with the tracker. "But first, I have to reconfigure the tracker to reopen the tear in space-time to send them the weapons so they can catch the Link."  
  
"Jonathan. I think that getting Nick and Kate back are more important than catching the STG." Alice complained.  
  
"Alice let's think rationally about this." Jonathan said in the same tone you would use on a child when you're explaining to her why she can't get her favorite toy back. "If we get them back first, then there'll be no one there to catch the STG. Besides, it will probably escape by the time we can get to it if we put Nick and Kate as our top priority. Anyways, I'm sure that they can take care of themselves."  
  
"Okay, fine. But get them the equipment quickly so we can get them back sooner." Alice conceded.  
  
"Alright, we're almost ready, put the equipment on the spot Nick and Kate disappeared." Jonathan instructed. One of the officers did that as everyone else watched Jonathan finish with a few adjustments and the weapons shimmered and disappeared.  
  
"So where'd they go?" Carl asked. Everyone groaned.  
  
"Carl, were you paying the least bit of attention the last hour? Because that was all we were talking about for that length of time." Jonathan questioned, sounding slightly irritated.  
  
"Sorry, I was too busy stealing your wallets." Carl answered with a contented smirk on his face. Then, realizing what he just said, "I mean I wasn't stealing your wallets" he corrected, with that phony innocent expression he always has when he's guilty of something.  
  
"Carl, give me back my wallet!!" Page yelled.  
  
"Wallet? I don't have any wallets. I was only kidding!" Carl defended guiltily.  
  
"Okay, then what are these?" Page demanded, as he then grabbed Carl by the collar and gave him a hard shake. When he did that, more than a dozen wallets fell from Carl's person.  
  
"Those? I was just checking if you had your ID's in them. I was going to give them back, I swear!" Carl defended.  
  
"Now you know that we all have our ID's so give me back my wallet!" Page ordered very harshly. 


End file.
